Site Mobile Navigation

Charges Dropped in F.B.I. Murder Case

Roy Lindley DeVecchio, the retired Federal Bureau of Investigation supervisor charged with murder, walked out of court a free man this morning after prosecutors dropped all charges against him in the wake of new evidence that the government’s main witness changed her account and may face perjury charges.

The lead prosecutor, Michael F. Vecchione, announced the decision to dismiss all charges this morning in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, where Mr. DeVecchio, 67, was charged with helping a Mafia informer commit four murders in the 1980s and early 1990s. The trial, which began last month, was upended this week after a reporter revealed that he had taped interviews showing that the prosecution’s main witness, Linda Schiro, a gangster’s mistress, had given varying accounts and had damaged her credibility.

“Had we been provided with these tapes much earlier in the process, I dare say we would not have been here,” Mr. Vecchione said as he stood before Justice Gustin L. Reichbach this morning. “The interest of justice at this point requires me to stand before you and ask you on behalf of the district attorney to dismiss or accept the dismissal of this indictment.”

Mr. DeVecchio’s lawyer, Douglas Grover, told the judge that he did not object to the prosecutor’s request. Justice Reichbach then launched into a long speech in which he blasted the F.B.I. for its handling of the informer, and concluded by dismissing all charges.

And with that, Mr. DeVecchio, wearing a slight smile on his face, turned around and strolled out of the courtroom as his supporters and fellow F.B.I. agents gave him a round of applause. One of his supporters patted Mr. DeVecchio on the back as he made his way toward the exit and said simply, “I was right again.”

Mr. DeVecchio is scheduled to speak at a news conference later this afternoon.

The decision to drop the charges was a monumental reversal for the Brooklyn district attorney, Charles J. Hynes. Last year, when Mr. Hynes filed state murder charges despite a federal investigation that had cleared Mr. DeVecchio, he described the case as “the most stunning example of official corruption that I have ever seen.”

Standing down now brought a sensational ending to a case rife with intrigue, plagued with obstacles and built squarely on the word of Ms. Schiro, once a Mafia assassin’s mistress, whose shifting accounts have been increasingly evident since the new investigation nearly two years ago. Justice Reichbach warned Ms. Schiro in court on Tuesday that she could face perjury charges and appointed a lawyer, Gary A. Farrell, to represent her.

Photo

Roy Lindley DeVecchio arrived Thursday morning at State Supreme Court in Brooklyn with his wife, Carolyn.Credit
Robert Stolarik for The New York Times

Tom Robbins, the reporter, who works for The Village Voice, said he had struggled with his decision to come forward.

“I did not know what else to do,” Mr. Robbins said, adding that he had chosen to disclose the tapes after hearing the testimony this week and its role in the case. He said: “No journalist ever wants to go against a source. It’s against our creed.”

The trial centers on Mr. DeVecchio’s relationship with his informer, Gregory Scarpa, a notorious capo in the Colombo crime family. Mr. Scarpa, known as the Grim Reaper, died in prison in 1994. In the case on trial, state prosecutors accused Mr. DeVecchio of giving Mr. Scarpa orders to kill rival informers and tips on pending arrests.

But signs of the case’s weakness were evident from the start.

Within months of Mr. Scarpa’s death, investigators for the Office of Professional Responsibility, the internal affairs arm of the federal Department of Justice, interviewed Ms. Schiro. Their inquiry failed to produce sufficient evidence to charge or discipline Mr. DeVecchio.

In 1995, federal prosecutors admitted during a trial that Mr. DeVecchio had given some confidential information to Mr. Scarpa. Their disclosure led to acquittals for several members of the crime family, but Mr. DeVecchio denied any wrongdoing.

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

In 1997, a federal judge, Jack B. Weinstein, wrote: “DeVecchio and Scarpa’s relationship reflects, to a degree, the manner in which the F.B.I. and other investigatory agencies conduct business with top echelon informants and the hazards associated with doing so.”

As the accusations faded from the headlines, Ms. Schiro continued to give interviews to writers proposing books about her life with Mr. Scarpa. In 1998, she filed an affidavit in federal court in Brooklyn on behalf of Mr. Scarpa’s son, Gregory Scarpa Jr., who was facing racketeering charges. But when the time came to testify in that case, on Oct. 15, 1998, a judge warned Ms. Schiro that she could face perjury charges because of her prior statements to investigators, transcripts show. Ms. Schiro left court and elected not to testify.

Before the new state case came to trial, defense lawyers sought to subpoena several writers who had circulated book proposals based on interviews with Ms. Schiro. Basing his decision on the state shield law protecting journalists, Justice Reichbach quashed a subpoena for testimony by Jerry Capeci, who writes the column ganglandnews.com.

Photo

The trial of Roy Lindley DeVecchio involved an informer, Gregory Scarpa, second from right. Linda Schiro, at center in the undated photo, was Mr. Scarpas mistress.Credit
Polaris

When Ms. Schiro took the witness stand this week, defense lawyers underscored inconsistencies in her various accounts. In the interviews with federal investigators a decade ago, Ms. Schiro testified, she had left out Mr. DeVecchio’s involvement in the hope that he could protect her family.

But Mr. Grover, the defense lawyer, suggested that her story had changed with her prospects of making money, first by collecting on Mr. Scarpa’s outstanding loans and later by selling a book about Mr. DeVecchio.

As the first day of cross-examination ended on Tuesday, Mr. Robbins posted an article about his tape recordings on the Web site of The Village Voice. The interviews, he wrote, were conducted in 1997 for a book proposal written with Mr. Capeci.

In the interviews, Mr. Robbins wrote, Ms. Schiro was asked directly whether Mr. DeVecchio had been involved in the murders, and she insistently, unequivocally said he had not. Mr. Robbins promised to use the information only for a book, avoid attributing it to her and refuse to cooperate with any criminal prosecution arising from publication.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers both subpoenaed the interviews late Tuesday, and Mr. Robbins brought his cassette tapes to court Wednesday morning. Justice Reichbach sent him to meet with the lawyers.

On the way out of court on Wednesday, Mr. Robbins said he had not followed developments in the case closely and had been surprised to see Ms. Schiro as the central witness.

“I didn’t realize this case came down to her testimony,” he said, adding, “I don’t know if she’s lying now, or lying then.”

Five minutes later, the hallway outside the courtroom was empty. Across from a pen where TV cameramen have stood for two weeks documenting the arrival of witnesses, an abandoned sketch leaned against the wall, depicting Ms. Schiro on the witness stand, telling her story.